Alvarado wins Senate District 6 special election

1of20Carol Alvarado high fives attendants from the stage as she gives remarks at her watch party held at Raven Tower Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018 in Houston, TX.Photo: Michael Wyke, Contributor

2of20Carol Alvarado high fives attendants from the stage as she gives remarks at her watch party held at Raven Tower Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018 in Houston, TX.Photo: Michael Wyke, Contributor

3of20Supporters of Carol Alvarado wait outside for her to arrive at her watch party held at Raven Tower Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018 in Houston, TX.Photo: Michael Wyke, Contributor

4of20Supporters of Carol Alvarado eat food as they wait for her to arrive at her watch party held at Raven Tower Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018 in Houston, TX.Photo: Michael Wyke, Contributor

5of20Supporters of Carol Alvarado wait for her to arrive at her watch party held at Raven Tower Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018 in Houston, TX.Photo: Michael Wyke, Contributor

6of20Supporters of Carol Alvarado wait for her outside to arrive at her watch party held at Raven Tower Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018 in Houston, TX.Photo: Michael Wyke, Contributor

7of20Supporters of Carol Alvarado wait for her to arrive at her watch party held at Raven Tower Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018 in Houston, TX.Photo: Michael Wyke, Contributor

8of20A Carol Alvarado supporter yawns as he looks at his phone while waiting for the candidate to arrive at her watch party held at Raven Tower Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018 in Houston, TX.Photo: Michael Wyke, Contributor

9of20State. Rep. Ana Hernandez, D-Houston at a watch party for the Senate District 6 special election at Taqueria Tepatitlan on the East Freeway Tuesday Dec. 11,2018.Photo: Dave Rossman, Contributor

10of20State. Rep. Ana Hernandez, D-Houston at a watch party for the Senate District 6 special election at Taqueria Tepatitlan on the East Freeway Tuesday Dec. 11,2018.Photo: Dave Rossman, Contributor

11of20State Rep. Carol Alvarado answers question in a debate for the special election for Texas Senate Dist. 6 against Mia Mundy and State Rep. Ana Hernandez at University of Houston Downtown on Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2018 in Houston.
>>See the firsts from last month's midterms in the photos that follow...Photo: Elizabeth Conley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

12of20Photo: Houston Chronicle

13of20Lina HidalgoThe first woman and first Latina County Judge in Harris County.

State Rep. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, won the Senate District 6 special election Tuesday, finishing with just enough votes to avoid a runoff against fellow state Rep. Ana Hernandez.

With all precincts reporting, Alvarado received 50.4 percent of the vote, according to unofficial returns, which showed that less than 5 percent of eligible voters turned out.

It was unclear until the final precincts reported whether Alvarado, who hovered around 50 percent the entire night, would reach enough votes to skip the runoff. She attributed her win to a much stronger ground game than in 2013, when she lost the special election for this seat by about 1,000 votes.

Still, heading into Election Day, Alvarado said she was unsure if her efforts would be enough to win outright.

"I had some expectations, but I wasn't sure," she said, sounding upbeat. "I knew I was doing everything possible, staying in campaign mode (during the summer), constantly being in civic clubs."

Ultimately, Alvarado built on areas where she struggled five years ago, easily won the precincts that overlap with her House district, and came within striking distance of Hernandez in the latter Democrat's own district.

Unofficial returns showed Hernandez had received 24 percent of the vote, just ahead of Republican Martha Fierro's 23 percent. A precinct chair for the Harris County GOP, Fierro refused to concede Tuesday night.

Mia Mundy, an executive search consultant for a Houston firm, finished with 2.1 percent of the vote.

Benefit of experience

Alvarado entered the race with several advantages, notably a large cash on hand edge and the residual name ID from her prior campaign. Her House district also overlaps a greater portion of Senate District 6 than Hernandez's, and she previously represented a Houston City Council district that covered further ground in the Senate district.

During the months leading up to the resignation of U.S. Rep.-elect Sylvia Garcia, who previously held the seat, Alvarado said she spent hours block walking, often painstakingly explaining to voters why the election would not be on the November ballot. Garcia, D-Houston, did not resign until Nov. 9, three days after winning the race for Texas' 29th Congressional District. U.S. Rep. Gene Green, also a Houston Democrat, did not seek re-election.

"We knew this was coming, even though we never had an election day," she said. "It was never the most pleasant thing" knocking on doors in the Houston summer heat, she said.

Hernandez, who conceded around 10 p.m., entered the race along with Alvarado on March 7, the day after Garcia won her congressional primary. She will return to the Texas House, having won re-election in November.

Alvarado, meanwhile, will face re-election in November 2020 and hold the seat through January 2021, finishing out Garcia's term.

'Compromised values'

During the campaign, Hernandez and Alvarado did not make much of an effort to distinguish themselves ideologically, instead clashing over Alvarado's chairmanships under Republican leadership and whether it meant she had "compromised her values," as Hernandez suggested at a debate.

Alvarado said she had never done so, contending she instead gained "the trust and the confidence" of "moderate" Republican Speaker Joe Straus, naming examples of other Democrats who had done so as well.

Shortly after her victory, Emily's List, an organization that financially backs Democratic women who support abortion rights, said Alvarado "has a proven ability to work across the aisle to achieve meaningful change for women and families – a skill sorely needed while Republicans maintain control of the Texas state Legislature."

Jasper covers City Hall, local politics and breaking news for the Houston Chronicle through the Hearst Journalism Fellowship program. He previously covered Bexar County and local politics for the San Antonio Express-News. Jasper graduated from Northwestern University in 2017 with degrees in journalism and political science. He has interned for the Tampa Bay Times, Washington Post and Fortune magazine.